20 November 2012

Discharging Student Loans: A Long Train (Not) Coming

I've posted frequently on the cost of higher education (particularly its "for profit" variety) and one of its causes, federally subsidized student loans (see here and here for some examples). And I also commented here on the inability of student loan borrowers to discharge that debt in bankruptcy. (And check here for a particularly sad account.)

Such posts tend to get lots of hits but that's not why I'm pushing this hot button again. This time I'll link to an unscientific poll conducted by the American Bankruptcy Institute in which 69% of the respondents believe that student loans should be dischargeable. Read it for yourself here.

I hope none of my readers gets too excited. It ain't gonna happen, at least as long as our federal government continues to backstop students loans. And my more libertarian minded followers should beware of advocating that the government get out; if it did, the lending market would collapse. Not a bad thing, perhaps, but one for which those who have already gotten their loans might face a charge of hypocrisy if their advocacy became a little too strident.

No comments:

Post a Comment